October 2018 Newsletter

Oct 15, 2018 | Uncategorized

Dear Friends of The Sunny Center,

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There is a gorgeous array of colors growing in our poly tunnel greenhouse.

The days are growing shorter. The temperatures are getting cooler. And we are readying ourselves for the shortest days and longest nights of the winter season. But, the hearth burns warm at the Sunny Center and we continue to offer a beacon of love, peace and recovery to the wrongfully-convicted all over the world.

Our work is only possible because you care. And we count on your support both emotional and financial to keep our front door open.

Trick or Treat for the Sunny Center!

Please fill our trick-or-treat basket with recurring donations! Any amount will do. That will allow us to count on monthly income So that we can spend more of our time helping exonerees in the United States and around the world.

We are hoping that we can get 100 friends of the Sunny Center to make a recurring donation through this link – large or small. Even a monthly donation of as little as $5 per month can make a big difference in the life of an Exoneree. 


OUR EXONEREE GUESTS AND VISITORS

Our Belgian activist visitors enjoyed their stay. 
 

We hosted a group of activists from Belgium who were eager to learn more about our healing techniques and survival yoga at the Sunny Center.
 
And we are also awaiting the arrival of an Exoneree from Pakistan and look forward to introducing him to the beautiful and wild countryside of Connemara. 

OUR VOLUNTEERS 

Ryan is one of our local student volunteers.

A local volunteer, Ryan, helps us with the goats on weekends when he is home from studying agricultural science. We have had a number of local volunteers who have helped us this month, fixing gates, feeding the goats. We look forward to our next live-in volunteer who arrives soon. 


OUR FURRY AND FEATHERED FRIENDS

Remember Mini Me? Well I’m all grown-up now and I am still just like my mom!
 
We found new homes for the two male kids who we hear are adjusting well. The rest of the herd has been giving us milk and cheese – a delight for us to enjoy ourselves but also be able to offer to our guests. 

OUR ACTIVISM 

Sunny Center Coordinator Anne Driscoll gives a talk about wrongful convictions at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at NUIG.

We are proud to announce that our administrative coordinator, Anne Driscoll, has been selected as a US Fulbright scholar to develop and oversee a new innocence clinic at the National University Of Ireland at Galway. She will be teaching a class about the causes of wrongful convictions and how to investigate them. She has had the innovative and ingenious idea of offering an interdisciplinary approach to wrongful convictions by combining both the law and journalism schools, as well as human rights students. She is heartened by the interest in the issue of wrongful convictions as 90 students have signed up. 


STAY CONNECTED 

Freedom is life without fences or walls.

Last month we asked our readers,  “When do you feel most at peace?” And we have heard from our supporters that feeling at peace is a profound place of healing. One reader said, “I am at peace when I feel free.” Our question for this month is, how can we live in a more just world? Please send us an email with your response at info@thesunnycenterfoundation@gmail.com.
 
October 2 was the Fifth Annual International Wrongful Conviction Day and we joined other members of the worldwide innocence movement to remember and honor those who are wrongfully convicted and still awaiting justice.
 
We know you are part of that movement, that you believe in justice and are doing your share to see that everyone who seeks justice, gets it. We hope you will support us in our efforts to do the same and might consider a donation to underwrite the work of the Sunny Center.
 
And stay in touch. We love hearing from you. 
 
Peace and Love, 
 
Sunny and Peter 

Remembering Peter

My dear Peter is gone.
We sang him home on the last day of the year, gathered around his bedside as we had done for so many days before.

‘Send them green.’ A special message from a Sunny Center supporter!

“I had the wonderful opportunity to be a guest at the Sunny Center this past July. My first trip to Ireland, it always is a magical moment to visit friends who live overseas…”

Exonerees are succeeding, thanks to you!

Helping people exonerated of crimes they did not commit, setting them back on the path to a fulfilling life, is a monumental task that we depend on the dedication of volunteers, both near and far, to achieve.

Even in summer, the work doesn’t stop

We’re in midsummer now, with its long days that stretch until 11 in the evening here in Ireland. It’s a busy time for everyone and everything.

The power of art to heal and renew

Did you know that Peter was a woodworker and an artist? He created so many things. But more importantly, he taught those skills to other Exonerees when they visited the Center.

Looking for green shoots

Photo by Samantha Bookman. Peter and I chose to situate the Sunny Healing Center here in this beautiful location in the west of Ireland. A newcomer may at first see only a barren, rocky, windswept landscape. But, put your hand on the earth here, and you can feel the...

A message from Sunny about Peter

The time has come to say farewell to our dear Peter, who is in the process of transitioning from this body and this plane.

Finding Peace, Joy and Hope

The events in Ukraine over the past several days have been ever-present in all of our lives through the daily news and constant social media. These times can be especially difficult for Exonerees because of the traumas they are working to overcome.

Love Is Always the Answer

Winter is always a little bit quieter than the rest of the year. After a long day spent maintaining the Sunny Healing Center and getting it ready for visitors, it’s time for us to cuddle up with the kittens and, of course, Barney, on chilly winter evenings with a warm fire in the hearth.

A Happy, Healthy and Healing New Year to All

Love has no barriers and no limits. And neither does our gratitude for your continuing support and friendship. Know that you are never alone, because you are part of our family.

Happy Holidays to Our Friends Near and Far!

These are extraordinary times. And you’ve all been extraordinary supporters. Thanks to you, we’ve been able to keep helping Exonerees in the midst of a global emergency.